Okay, so this chapter took ages to write. This means that chapter five will be a while because I don't have anything to write for it yet. Hopefully this long chapter will make up for it.
PS. Hope y'all had a good April Fools Day, and to everyone I caught out with "Chapter 3: Sex on Fire", GOTCHA!
Chapter Song
When the rain is blowing in your face,
And the whole world is on your case,
I could offer you a warm embrace,
To make you feel my love.
When the evening shadows and the stars appear,
And there is no one there to dry your tears,
I could hold you for a million years,
To make you feel my love.
Make You Feel My Love - Adele
"So what's happening with your art-thing, Petey?"
St John, along with Remy, had made fast friends with the strong, silent Russian who, ironically, was an artist. The Aussie had been pestering him ever since he found out Piotr was trying to sell as many paintings was he could so that he could get enough money to bring his little sister from Russia. Illyana was very ill with a rare, but curable, disease, but without the appropriate medical care in Russia, she was in very real danger of dying. The hospitals were far better in America and his salary was enough for her treatment - just - but he didn't have the money to get her there in the first place.
"It is not bad but I vorry I vill not haff enough to help Illyana."
"Don't worry, mate. I'm sure you'll find a way to... What the Hell is Remy doing?"
Piotr looked over to where St John was staring, just in time to see said Cajun pin a man to the wall. In a flash, the Russian had made his way over to Remy and pulled him off.
"Remy, what are you doing?"
"He made her cry! He made Anna cry!"
Piotr turned a confused glance to the bar, where he saw Wanda and Kitty wrap comforting arms around Anna and lead her to the back room, and then to the man cowering at the sight of the huge, muscled bouncer and the demon-eyed detective.
"Hey, so the chick's a homophobe, how the Hell'm I s'posed to know?"
Piotr blanched and Remy gave him a funny look. Clearly, the Russian knew something about why Anna was so upset.
"Vhat do you mean?"
"I just said that my girlfriend and I wanted to experiment a bit and I said to the chick she'd look hot doing Sian. Next thing I know, she bursts into tears."
The man muttered something about 'stupid, hormonal women'. Piotr turned to Remy.
"Vanda and Katya took Anna to zhe back to calm her down."
Remy left in search of the Southern Belle and Piotr turned back to the man.
"Anna has been propositioned by many better men zhan you, and in vays such as yours, but it is painful for her to zhink about it just now."
"Not my fault the chick's a h -"
"She is not homophobic. Far from it. But you should not say zhings like zhat to anyvone, just in case zhey are."
-X-O-X-
"Anna-chere? Y' in here?" Remy called from the doorway of the back room, unsure of whether or not he should enter. "Chaton? Wanda?"
"Like, back here."
Remy reached for the light switch on the wall and flicked it down, bathing the room with a sickly, fluorescent glow. He blinked a little as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness before they focused on the three women at the back, one with tear tracks staining her face who had fallen asleep on another's shoulder.
"Allo, petites. How is she?"
"Still pretty miserable," Wanda replied. "I wish I could stay here and keep her company but it's Happy Hour and we tend to get real busy then. Tabby'll need help serving."
"Yeah, like, Jean will too."
Remy looked at the sleeping girl. "I could look aft'r her if y' wan'."
"I was actually gonna take her home. She probably didn't get any sleep last night."
"Y' wan' m' t' take her?"
Wanda sighed in mock defeat, although was grinning on the inside. She hadn't planned for a tragedy, but her plan to set up Anna and Remy was - so far - working. "Okay, then. C'mon, I'll show you to her bike. You'll have to take it with you."
-X-O-X-
When Wanda said 'bike', Remy thought she meant 'bicycle', not the Harley in a beautiful shade of forest green he knew would bring out the Southern Belle's eyes perfectly. He carried her, bridal-style, from the bar to his slightly rushed red pickup and gently placed her on in the passenger seat. His fees for his jobs were normally high, after all, he was the best, so he could easily have afforded a much more luxurious car, but he preferred his old Chevy, simply because it was a good, reliable thing... and he had, with help from his cousin, Etienne, built it from scratch. Etienne had been injured in a boating accident not long afterwards. He'd died in hospital.
He typed Anna's address (Wanda had Biro-ed it onto his hand) into his sat-nav and began his journey to the young woman's apartment. About halfway there, Anna woke.
"Where am ah?"
"'M truck. Wanda et Kitty t'ought I should take y' home. Y' look tired, chere, y' okay?"
"Ah... Ah guess."
"Y' sure? 'Cause 'm not. If y' were okay y' wouldn't've cried at what dat secousse said."
"~Drive: two-hundred yards then turn: left~"
"Just ignore that. Yah can't get tah mah place that way. Go straight on."
She was deliberately dodging the question. He asked again, however, when they entered her apartment and she burst into tears at the sight of a group of framed photographs next to a honey-and-chestnut coloured acoustic guitar.
One photo was of a red-haired woman - with such pale skin it looked almost blue, and such hazel eyes they looked almost yellow - with one arm hand on the shoulder of a boy with the same eyes and skin but with chin-length black hair, and one arm around a woman with pearly eyes and grey-streaked brown hair. This woman had her arm around the redhead and one hand on the shoulder of a much younger Anna. Anna had her arm around the boy, who looked several years younger than her, and the boy's was around Anna. The next picture was almost identical, except the people in it were definitely older, a coffee-skinned brunette had her arms around the black-haired boy and a blonde boy had an arm slung around Anna's shoulders. The rest of the photos didn't feature the blonde boy or the two women, but most were of Anna - who appeared to have gone Goth, the boy, the girl and younger versions of Wanda, Kitty, occasionally Scott and Jean, and a raven-haired boy Remy thought he'd spotted talking to Anna once or twice at the bar.
He watched as she wiped away only a small fraction of the cascade of tears and stuck a round piece of post-it note over the blonde boy's face.
"Mah mommas," she said, indicating first the redhead, then the blind woman, "Raven an' Irene. They were in a civil partnership. And that's mah babeh brothah, Kurt." She pointed to the coffee-skinned girl, "That's Kurt's fiancée, Amanda," then to a picture of herself and five others, "And that's meh, Wanda, Kit, Scott an' Jean, of course, an' one of mah bes' friends, Jean-Paul Beaubier, JP foah short."
"Jus' amis?"
"He's gay."
"An' who's de blonde homme?"
He winced as she burst into tears again. "Nice one, homme, y' made her cry!"
-X-O-X-
A little while later, he'd gotten her a hot drink and a hot water bottle. She'd changed into her pyjamas and was currently curled up into his side like a cat, both of them sitting on the couch.
"Y' wanna tell me' why y're not okay, now, chere?"
"Ah'll tell yah if yah tell meh somethin' crappeh that happened tah yah."
"Pas problem. How many y' got?"
"Ah've gaht two. Yah go firs'."
"'Kay, den... Uh... Few years back, I was in a motorcycle acciden' an' had a whole load o' operations. Un o' dem was botched an' it lef' mes yeux like dis. Mon pére et ma tante treated m' normal, like I was born wit' dem, et mon frére et mes cousins t'ought dey were cool. Mais, m' fiancée saw dem an' said she hated dem. Tol' m' t' 'take off de damn contacts'. When I tol' her I couldn't, dat mes yeux were like dis, she jus' stared at m'. Den she tol' m' t' get surgery, change dem back. De doctors didn' know what de Hell happened, dough, an' when I tol' her dat, she lef'. Sen' back de ring in de mail de nex' day. Her frére nev'r liked m' in de firs' place an' attacked m' f' 'breakin' his soeur's heart'. I called de cops. Las' I heard, he was in prison an' she'd married someone else."
Anna snuggled further into his side. "Ah'm sahrreh. Foah what it's worth, ah think she was a morahn. Yah're eyes are beautiful."
He smiled. "So're y'rs." His smile widened as her cheeks flushed an adorable raspberry-pink. "Y're turn."
"When ah was sixteen, ah had a boyfrien' called Cody. He's thah blonde in thah photo. He was so sweet and ah realleh lahked him... An' he was mah firs' an'... An' thah nex' day... Ah... Ah gaht a tex' from him, dumpin' meh... Wands, Kit an' JP helped pick meh up, an' Irene an' Raven were real nahce about it. That's when ah went Goth. They took meh shoppin' an' realleh helped meh through it. JP even said he'd go beat him up if ah wan'ed. Ah few days latah, he was hit bah a hit-an'-run drahver on thah way tah school. He was in a coma 'til a few days ago...."
"He die?"
"No. He woke up. Called mah cell tah see if we could get back tahgethah. Don' know how he gaht mah number."
"Did y' say oui?"
"No. Ah remember what he was lahke. When ah told him 'no', he gaht mad an' called meh... things."
"Like what?"
"Called meh a whore. Said it was mah mommas' fault ah was turnin' him down. That they'd turned meh into a lesbian."
"Désole, chere. Jus' un question, dough... Why did y' keep de photo if he was so awful?"
"Ah threw out or burned most of 'em. But that photo was taken naht long aftah Kurt an' 'Manda gaht tahgether. It's such a loveleh picture of them, ah couldn' bear tah throw it away."
"Where is y'r frére, anyway? No' meanin' t' pry, I jus' t'ought he'd be de one t' comfort y'."
"Kurt an' 'Manda moved tah Germany. He joined thah Munich circus an' she's a teacher. He was always real good at gymnastics an' acrobatics. Most o' thah boys at school called him a panseh. Ah beat thah crap outta them."
"Wha' 'bout y'?"
"What d'yah mean?"
"Y' always wanted t' be a singer in a bar?"
"Nah. Ah always wan'ed tah beh a singer... somewhere. Naht big tahme, jus' known aroun' here. Ah'd lahke tah beh able tah walk down thah street in Tenessee, or Texas, or Kentucky, Louisiana, here, an' people'll recognahse meh."
"Soun's nice, chere. An' 've heard y' sing. Talen' scouts'll be in Blues Bar lookin' f' y' befo' y' know it. Y'll make it, chere."
"Yah think so?"
"Non. I know so."
She smiled gently at him, a smile he returned.
"So, m' turn 'gain?"
Anna looked at him, surprised.
"Well y' did say y' had deux. Derefore, I shoul' b' tellin' y' deux, aussi."
"Yah don' have tah."
"Mais I wan' t'. Y're de firs' person 've met dat I wan' t' talk t' 'bout dis stuff."
"'Kay."
"Ma mére, she was such a belle t'ing, jus' as belle as y', she had dis disease she'd caught when we wen' t' Japan une année. She was real sick, no cure f' it, an' on her las' day, she wan'ed t' talk t' each o' us individually. Firs', ma tante - aldough she's not really ma tante, jus' a frien' o' de famille dat came t' help out when mére firs' got sick - den mon frére; den moi; an' den finally mon pére. When she called m', I was real nervous. She gave m' dis an' tol' m' t' give it t' de femme dat I loved mo' dan anyt'ing in de worl'."
He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a delicate silver band, all vines and leaves, with a single emerald set in the middle, and unwrapped it from the silk handkerchief he kept in. He carefully placed it in her hand for her to see.
"At de time, I was 'bout ten an' t'ought 'girls were icky' -"
She giggled at that one.
"- mais, when I proposed t' Bella, I used it. She didn' like it. Said it was a wort'less lump an' wan'ed a white gold an' diamond un fr'm Tiffany's. Guess dat's when we started t' drift 'part. She didn' realise jus' how much it meant t' moi."
"Ah think it's gorgeous."
Remy smiled, gently taking the ring back and rewrapping it. "She had de mos' belle green eyes. Not like y'rs, don' t'ink anyone could have eyes as belle as y'rs, mais dey were gorgeous. Dat's why pére got it f' her. Not long after she spoke t' him, she passed."
"Ah'm sahrreh."
"Y'd've liked her, she was a lovely femme. Saw de good in everyone." He suddenly noticed Anna's eyes were tearing up. "Y' okay, chere?"
"Ah didn' realise yah'd lahst yahr momma too."
"Quoi?"
"Irene dahed las' nahght."
"Oh, Dieu, chere. 'M so sorry."
"She had cancer, that's what made her blahnd, thah tumor. She an' Raven went tah Germany tah stay with Kurt an' 'Manda 'cos thah medical facilities are real good in Munich. When she gaht worse, Raven had tah take care of her twen'y-four/seven, so Kurt stahpped workin' durin' thah day so he could take care of thah house while Amanda was teachin', an' she could take care of thah house while he was workin' thah evenin's. He called this mornin' tah tell meh she'd passed away in her sleep. Real peaceful. Ah jus'... Ah jus' wish ah could've seen her one las' tahme. Ah'm flyin' out in a couple of days foah thah funeral."
"'M sorry, chere. Guess dat 'tween dat an' what dat Cody said t' y', what de homme in de bar said made it worse."
"Mmm hmm. Yah know, ah used tah think yah were all talk an' no trousers but... yah're real sweet. Everehthin' a gal looks foah in a man: han'some, sexeh, charmin', but yah're so sweet an' sensitive too. Plus, thah whole 'bad boy' thing doesn' hurt." She sidled a little closer. "Rem..."
Uh oh. He knew that look. Countless women had given him it before.
"Rem, ah want yah." She was practically crawling on top of him now. "Gawd, Remy, yah make meh so hot. Ah want yah. Ah need yah."
For the first time in his life, Remy gently pushed her away. If it had been under different circumstances, if she wasn't so vulnerable right now, he would have pinned her to the sofa and ripped off her far-too-innocent pyjamas... But now? No. Now she was vulnerable. Now he was in love with her. If he did what she was pretty much begging him to do... He didn't want her, or himself for that matter, to regret it. He wanted it to be the most perfect experience of their lives.
"Désole, chere, mais I can'. Y're grievin'. Y're not t'inkin' straigh'. 'M not gonna take advantage of y'. Not when I -"
"When yah what?" Anna asked, slinking to the other end of the sofa, red-faced at her neediness.
"When I... I... I've... Chere, t'ink I've got feelin's f' y'."
It wasn't the whole truth. He didn't 'think', he knew. And they weren't just mere feelings, he was head-over-heels, rip-your-heart-out-and-serve-it-to-your-beloved-on-a-solid-gold-platter in love with her. But saying 'I think I have feelings for you' would make her less uncomfortable.
Anna stared in shock. "Yah do?"
"... Oui."
What she did next surprised them both: she scooted back over to his side, leaned up, and gently brushed her lips across his in a chaste kiss. "Ah think ah've gaht feelin's foah yah too."
"Y' do?"
"... Yeah."
He smiled lovingly at her before brushing his lips against hers.
"Rem? Stay thah nahght? Yah were rahght befoah, 'bout meh naht thinkin' 'cos ah'm so sad... But ah don' wanna beh alone. Will yah hold meh tahnahght? Please?"
"'Course, ma belle."
Neither made any attempt to move for a while, both wre happy to stay like this. Finally, Remy spoke.
"Chere? D' y' t'ink I could come wit' y' t' Germany? I was de youngest an' I loved ma mére so much, mais I guess I t'ought dat goin' t' her funeral would make de fact dat she was gone mo' real, so I stayed home. Pére et Henri un'erstood, so did Tante an' de ot'ers, mais, now, I feel like I owe her somet'in' now. An' goin' wit' y' t' say adieu will make her happy. Dat, an' I don' wan' y' t' be 'lone. I care 'bout y' too much f' dat."
She hugged him tightly. "Ah'd lahke that."
With one final kiss, she led him to the bedroom where they curled up together, her head resting on his chest, their hands intertwined over her heart.
This chapter was really emotional for me to write. I lost my gran and grampa in the space of a couple of years so it was really difficult. I went to both their funerals but I was so upset I couldn't got to see Gran in the funeral home. I felt really bad for that so when Grampa died, I wrote their names on one of the reeds for the clarinet Gramps gave me and slipped it into his hand to make up for it. They, like Rogue and Remy, and probably Jean-Luc and his wife, were in love at first sight. A proper fairytale romance. She was the reason he moved to Scotland.
Anyhoo, I seem to have killed a lot of people. Oops. Ah, well, we never did know what happened to Remy's adoptive mum (well, I don't, from the handful of comics I've read) and we all know Etienne died anyway (and I'm pretty sure it's from having his skull crushed on the hull of a ship). Irene, I was surpised to find out after reading Necrosha, really did die in the comics! I was planning on killing her off anyway.
For anyone wondering, no, Remy's mum didn't die from AIDS. I couldn't think of any diseases other than cancer and AIDS and I've already got a plan for HIV/AIDS (don't worry, no one else will die... I think). Oh, and Illyana will be just fine.
Oh, one more thing:
IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, PLEASE LEAVE THEM IN A REVIEW OR PM ME. I NEED A PLOT!